


A Promise

by Barbedbeat



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Body Horror, Fever, Fever Dreams, Fire Godlike, Heavy Angst, Visions, and
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2018-09-29
Packaged: 2019-07-19 00:43:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16130045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Barbedbeat/pseuds/Barbedbeat
Summary: I poured half of my soul in this piece, and I truly hope you’ll enjoy reading it.I got a bit deep into exploring the physical and emotional side-effects of being both a Watcher and a Godlike, beings whose physiology is so fascinatingly insane it deserved a jump into Horror’s twisted land.





	A Promise

Thaos’ words echoed across Cilant Lîs square, rupturing the dusk’s stillness, sending an expectation-coated shiver rippling through the crowd gathered at its rim.  
Their robes swayed lightly in the breeze, dark wings of doom closing in on their sacrificial victims.  
She stood in the back, numb to all but the flaming torch in her hand.  
The Grand Master’s sermon bounced over her, trite and dull with repetition.  
_Apostates, unworthy, impure._ _Queen That Is, cleanse, justice._  
_Justice._  
That last word lingered in her mind, omen of action.  
She raised her gaze to meet his.  
“It is time, Inquisitor”.  
Her mentor’s command brought a jolt in her chest and a throb to her heart.  
Adrenaline ignited her blood as the crowd parted to grant her passage, sending a buzz to her head.  
Perspiration began collecting underneath her mask, its unseen glimmer marking the contours of a grin as she walked towards the stake.  
Five figures stood on the heap, their faces wrapped in hoods, wrists and ankles bound by heavy chains. Their identities were concealed, but size betrayed their age.  
Young, all of them: a bevy of kids damned by their own curiosity.  
Yet, she did not care.  
The stench of Animancy wafted off them like a cloud of germs.  
They deserved to burn.

“No… please no, I beg you...”  
A feminine voice tickled her ears, muffled, pleading, galvanizing.  
Her smirk broke into a wild grimace as the first crackling sparks spread through the hay, and she watched the fire grow, swelling to engulf wood and flesh alike.  
The fetor of charred meat rose to her nostrils.  
Then came the screams.  
She squeezed her eyes shut, letting the flare dance behind her eyelids, basking in the roaring heat with a prayer on her lips.  
Howls of agony exploded from the pyre and mingled with the thunder of flame, carrying her wicked elation to its peak.  
She was riding high on the crest of glee when a dissonant voice raised from the din, causing her to flinch.

“MAKE IT STOP”.

The voice seeped into her ears and crawled inside her skull, tugging at the very strands of her essence.  
“MAKE IT STOP”.  
The world began swirling wildly as the plea reached through the ages, tearing time and space apart, plummeting her consciousness into a fevered void.

 

“MAKE IT STOP!! MAKE-- MAKE IT STOP!!”  
Spasms wrecked Ember’s body as fire tore its way out her, splitting her skin and consuming her blood, her impossible physiology unhinged by the terror-choked delirium that poisoned her mind.  
“Itztli! Itztli, wake up!! Ah, _cack_ .”  
Tixoc jumped on his feet, yanking his hands away from his sister’s smoldering shoulder. “She’s blazing up.”  
“Oh Gods… we gotta do something!” Edér looked around, sweat glistening on his forehead, eyes wide with horror.  
“Yes, and here’s what. First thing: stay calm. Second: grab her by her feet. We’re bringing her abovedeck.”  
  
In a split second they’d stormed out of Ember’s cabin and out into the night air, hands enveloped in a stream of flames.  
The elf clenched his teeth, a groan of pain bubbling out of his throat. “Magran’s tits, it hurts. Water! Bring water, over here! _Quick_ !”  
The Watcher’s back hit the planks right as Aloth and Emeini came into view, lugging a full barrel in her direction, their effort-twisted visages shining in the glow of her blaze.  
“Move!” Emeini’s shout boomed across the bridge, followed by the thunderous splash of water.  
Ember gasped awake as her wounds spluttered and hissed, steam wafting off her in suffocating plumes.  
Pain throbbed through her veins and clawed its way outwards, prying a scream out of her chest.  
She instinctively curled up for protection as her fiery discharge simmered down, singing her flesh open in its wake.  
“Itztli?” Her brother knelt next to her, gently caressing her chin with a finger. “Itzli, can you hear me?”  
She raised her head just enough to free her mouth and opened her lips.  
“It hurts”, she croaked.  
“I know, old girl, I know.” He mustered a comforting smile before reprising, voice soft and low.  
“Look at me, ‘Li, look at me. It’s all over now: no more burning. I swear.”  
He placed his palm on her shoulder, gently nudging her towards him.   
“I know it’s hard, but I need you to loosen up, yes? Let us see what happened. Take it slow though... that’s it: nice and slow. Just like this.”  
Fever made her head spin as she untwisted her maimed limbs from underneath her, exposing the damage for everyone to inspect.

“ _Berath’s Wheel._ ” A yelp fled Aloth’s lips as he averted his gaze, raising a hand to cover his mouth.  
Burnt blood and carbonized skin caked her torso, climbing all the way up to her neck, and ulcers blossomed amidst her wounds like morbid flowers, glistening with ichor.  
Edér’s eyes, however, were glued to the left side of the Godlike’s body.  
“Gods, her arm… ” He shook his head, a lump of saliva stuck in his throat. “It looks bad.”  
He stared at the chunks of charred meat dangling off her elbow and grimaced at the exposed bone underneath.  
Tixoc nodded, color draining from his cheeks. “We… we need to dress that.”  
“That we do.” Emeini squatted next to him and brushed her knuckles against Ember’s intact wrist, making her quiver.  
“Hey, Cap. You can use this one, right?”  
The Watcher’s voice came out in a whisper. “I can.”  
“Good. Now hold onto me… yeah, that’s it”, the Aumaua said, lifting her captain up and cradling her, effortlessly, between her arms.  
“I’m bringing her to Delia. She’ll know what to do”, she continued, starting towards the quarter-deck.  
“Don’t worry, Em”, she then murmured, “I got you now.”  
Ember said nothing, too drained to speak.  
She simply allowed a sigh to escape her nose as she huddled in the mercenary’s embrace, letting its warmth soothe the shivers that rattled her spine.

She saw Aloth overtake them and open the door to the infirmary for Emeini to enter, his posture as grave and solemn as ever.  
His question tugged at the fringes of the Watcher’s dimming consciousness, squeezing itself small between its cracks.  
“What happened?”  
Ember turned her head a fraction, meeting the wizard’s doleful eyes.  
“It’s my soul”, she mewled. “Eothas gave it back to me.”  
She shuddered violently, jaw clenching in a fit of agony. “It hurts”, she muttered, struggling against the black weight in her mind.  
“Everything... hurts”.  
  
Her last words drowned into the void as dark descended upon her, broken only by a distant whisper.  
“Don’t worry, my love. We’re here. We’re all here. We’ll bring you back, Captain.  
_It’s a promise._ ”


End file.
